Broken Links
by CoffeeKat
Summary: They have lost one of their own. No poker game tonight, just time to remember together. Time to reaffirm between the remaining four. It will be difficult to face that empty chair.


Disclaimer:  Ah, if only I possessed them, my life would be so different.

Hmmm, it's complete shite.  What can I say?  It's pretty weak all around, and I was rather uninspired.

Broken Links

The car purred deeply as it slid to a stop and the engine was cut.  In the perfect midnight stillness, the door slam resounded like a shot.  All the houses were dark this late at night, including the one who's stairs he climbed now, taking them two at a time.  Pausing with his hand on the knob, he turned to look up at the stark black sky flecked with stars, said one silent prayer.

                Inside the house was silent, washed in a sense of anticipation.  Dim light gleamed through the darkness from a room far in the back.  The other three were there, waiting for him, sitting around the table.  No one acknowledged his entrance, his presence at the table.  They stared morosely at the table, or into their glasses.

                Duo took his usual seat, slumping dejectedly.  No one moved to find the poker chips, or deal the cards.  They sat there for several minutes, studying the kitchen tabletop.  Finally Duo stood and trudged to the fridge, popping open a beer with a loud snap.  Settling in his chair he coughed self consciously, raising his eyes to look at the other occupants of the table.  The other three met his unspoken request.

                "To say I expected it would be to lie.  To say I was surprised.  Also a lie," Trowa spoke quietly, meeting Duo's hard stare with his own.  The words, so simple, removed the inhibitions from all four lips.

                "I had hoped for so long that he had adjusted.  I assumed that, since the rest of us had managed to find new roles, he had also," Quatre said mournfully, his eyes red rimmed and bleary.

                "He wasn't flexible.  There was ever just one role he could fill.  And he performed it perfectly.  But he didn't leave any room for change.  His position was as rigid as his personality," Duo whispered, stealing a furtive glance at the chair beside him.  It was empty, sucking at the room, though full with the memory and spirit.

                "Rigid hardly begins to describe him.  Single-minded is better.  I've rarely seen a person so focused and so stubborn," replied Trowa.

                "Stubborn yes, but brave though.  Nothing stopped him; he went to the last measure to achieve his ends.  Despite the fact that it was, almost always, suicidal," Quatre offered.

                Duo leaned back in his chair, taking a thoughtful sip from his beer, smiling slightly.  "He must have had the hardest head.  I've never seen anyone attempt to self destruct so many times."

                "I've never seen anyone utterly fail at self destruction so many times," Wufei snorted.

                "He managed the last one competently," Trowa whispered.  Again the silence fell, unsure and reticent.  All eyes slid towards the empty chair, waiting for an answer, for a sign.  Minutes passed in centuries as they sat, painfully aware of everyone else in the room, painfully aware of the absence. 

                "Yeah he did.  The first of us to fall," Duo murmured.  He took a long gulp from the bottle.

                "Relena will have heard.  She'll miss him," Quatre said, running his fingers along the rim of the glass.

                "Miss?  She'll be devastated is what I think you meant.  She was crazy in love with that boy," Duo exclaimed.

                "Was he ever able to see that?" Trowa queried.

                "I would think the Perfect Soldier could at least notice what was directly in front of his face," Wufei grumbled.

                "Nah, Heero - " and Duo paused.  Speaking the name brought a lump to his throat.  All night he'd been tiptoeing around it, avoiding everything that was attached to the moniker.  Swallowing, licking dry lips he continued, a little more hoarsely than before. "Heero…always missed things like that, the pure emotion aspects of life.  Logical, analytical, he wouldn't know what Relena was offering.  He didn't understand emotion."

                "No.  He understood.  He knew, in a sort of crooked, broken way.  Of course it was mixed up with the cold, military manner, but Heero understood emotions.  He just chose not to deal with them.  They were difficult, dangerous, unpredictable.  But he understood them, even used them," Quatre quietly answered, staring a small secret smile into his glass.

                "Of course he used them.  He followed them," murmured Trowa.

                "Not enough though.  Man, with that kind of love waiting for him, you'd think he'd stick around.  She'd have given him anything," Duo ruminated. 

                "Heero never wanted anything given to him.  Everything he had, physical, material, emotional, or mental, he had to work for.  I don't think he understood the idea of a simple gift," Trowa replied quietly.

                "He would not accept patronization.  No idea of gifts! Humph.  He preferred to earn honorably what he was given," grumbled Wufei.

                "Earn honorably?  Like he honorably earned the parts from my Gundam," chuckled Duo.

                "Indeed.  Not to mention all those trucks."

                "Suits."

                "Space shuttles."

                "Ambulances."

                They broke into a short, spontaneous laughter.  Duo grabbed another beer from the fridge, tossed one to Trowa and Wufei.  Quatre refilled his glass with coke.  They sat again at the table, leaning in towards each other as they spoke.

                "You know, he had the oddest sense of humor."

                "He had one?  He was always so serious when I was around him."

                "You were trying to blow up a colony.  Only Duo would laugh in a situation like that."

                "Hey!"

                "He found you immensely entertaining Duo," Trowa remarked. "In a good way of course.  He needed your lightheartedness, to keep him from drowning in all that seriousness."

                "Serious is an understatement.  The only time I ever heard him laugh out loud was that scary, maniacal laugh.  Like when he'd destroy stuff," Duo answered, tilting on the two back legs of his chair, feet holding on to the table.

                "I never really thought someone would be that somber.  He seemed so severe most of the time," Quatre sighed.

                "Dedicated.  He saw his objective clearly," Wufei replied, shooting an annoyed glance at Duo.

                "Very clearly.  It's that clarity that made him so focused.  He missed the little things that were just outside the scope, that were just a tiny bit blurry," Trowa said, almost smiling across the table at the spectacle that was Duo.

                "Nah, he saw the blurry shit.  He just ignored it.  Didn't take time to smell the roses.  No sense of humor about life," Duo said as he concentrated on balancing the empty beer bottle on his forehead.

                For a second he perfected it, smiling as he watched the bottle cross-eyed.  Suddenly the chair legs shifted.  Duo was tossed backwards, his legs catapulting out from under the table.  Gracefully the brown bottle spun once and thunked him on the cheek.  For several seconds he lay on his back, legs flailing, sputtering soundlessly.  The other three roared with laughter.

                "Looks like he had a better sense of humor than you thought."

                Duo stood a little wobbly, rubbing at his cheek.  A broad smile graced his face as he righted his chair and sat, firmly resting upon all four legs.  They looked at each other for a moment, the kitchen light swinging slightly, casting funny shadows.

                "What was he missing?" Quatre whispered quietly.

                "The wide scope.  The ability to see the world as a living, pulsing, imperfect entirety," Trowa responded, melancholy seeping into his tones.

                "The projection.  He couldn't see a future, couldn't look more than a second ahead, no more than a mission," Duo answered, absently tracing the grain of the wood.

                "Self sufficiency.  He depended too much on the machine for answers, did not trust his own judgment," Wufei stated solemnly.

                Quietly the four looked up, meeting each other's eyes.  The hours had crawled by, the poker game replaced by reminiscences.  Silently, they stood and raised their glasses.  Not touching, but they maintained eye contact, feeling that simple spiritual link that had always held them together.  They felt the empty place in the web, the frayed ends of the bond.  And wordlessly they turned to face the empty chair.

"Strong and valiant, a warrior until the end.  A man of integrity when mendacity and malevolence ran thick through men's blood.  We shall not see his equal again," Wufei began.

"The measure of this man lies not in the heroics he has performed, but in the spirit of bravery, fire, and loyalty which he carried.  The memory of such focused power shall not fade," Trowa continued.

"Remember always the kindness, the concern, the compassion.  Human beyond anything he could ever believe, he has altered and enriched the lives of all he touched.  Such beauty can never be lost," Quatre whispered. 

"Best friend, eternally loyal, eternally independent.  There is so much only you can understand buddy.  That deep connection, we're linked, man. Shared hearts, shared minds, shared souls.  Irreplaceable, we live without you now, waiting for the time when we will be complete again." 


End file.
